People are encouraged to wear life jackets when they are engaged in water sports such as water-skiing, boating, or jet-skiing. However, the same individuals are usually interested in an even suntan. When someone wears a traditional life jacket, the area under the life jacket receives no tan and the other areas are very darkly tanned leaving embarrassing lines between the two regions.
Clothing, especially bathing suits, is now available that allows the passage of ultraviolet radiation to facilitate a full body suntan. However, no one has taught a practical lifevest that will transmit ultraviolet rays to give an even tan.
There is another issue—aesthetics. An individual may not wish to cover up their body or swimsuit with a light-blocking life vest. Thus, there is a need for a safe and practical life vest that would allow the passage of visible light.
Snow skiers and mountain climbers could also benefit from light selective articles. Garments that would pass heat-carrying ultra-violet radiation but block the loss of the body's infrared radiation would be very useful. Alternatively, garments that would pass visible light would be attractive for the style conscious resort skier that wished to show off their under-jacket garments.
In spite of the numerous possible uses for light selective sport garments there have been none taught beyond the famous light transmitting swimsuit invention of Reidel (U.S. Pat. No. 5,518,798). Reidel's fabric is actually not light transparent but based on the clever trick of a very loose fabric (hexagonal weave) so that only ⅓ of the skin is covered. Camouflage patterns on the suit then provide privacy by preventing the discernment of small physical features. Bortnick (U.S. Pat. No. 4,546,493) taught another swimsuit approach with a conventional rectangular weave but with coated fibers.
Other mentions of light passage in garments have been directed essentially to novelties. Danzy (U.S. Pat. No. 5,960,476) teaches a transparent patch in part of a garment to better display tattoos. Jones (U.S. Pat. No. 4,834,688) teaches a transparent pouch sewn onto a T-shirt to hold, for example, a liquid appearing like beer. Wheeler (U.S. Pat. No. 5,007,109) teaches what is essentially sunglasses attached to a cap.